BOLDFACE NAMES

By James Barron with Jennifer Steinhauer

Published: April 26, 2002

Ubiquitous Bubba

What did Bubba think of the high-wattage celebrities at the PEN American Center's dinner at the Pierre Hotel on Wednesday? RON HOWARD was there. So was SALMAN RUSHDIE, saying that his next book would be a collection of essays titled ''Step Across This Line.'' Honorary chairmen included LAUREN BACALL, BILL T. JONES and JESSYE NORMAN.

Bubba seemed to be snarling at his mate when the question crossed the questioner's mind, so the question went unasked. And the novelist AMY TAN's Yorkshire terriers, Bubba and Lilli (short for Lilliput, said Ms. Tan, left), went back to whatever they were doing in the over-the-shoulder bag that was their home away from home for the gala.

She had taken Bubba (but not Lilli) to the premiere of the WOODY ALLEN film ''Hollywood Ending'' on Tuesday, where she talked about the time she carried him through the Oval Office. A friend who worked in the Clinton White House showed her around; the president was away that day. Socks, the Clintons' cat, was oblivious, she said.

PEN gave a $25,000 award to VANESSA LEGGETT, a freelance writer who was jailed for refusing to surrender her tape-recorded interviews to a grand jury. ''When I was in jail,'' she said, ''I really didn't think my life could get any more surreal.''

A Wing and a Chair

This is why RON FRIED'S newly won Emmy has a broken wing, and why he had a hole in his hand.

Mr. Fried, a vice president of the Metro TV cable channel, collected the Emmy as executive producer of the weekly series ''Subway Q and A.''

When he got up in the middle of the night after the award presentations, he bumped into the chair on which he had hung his tuxedo. ''You know how Emmys have wings?'' he said. ''You know the flesh between my ring finger and my pinkie finger? It went in one side and out the other.'' And broke off from the Emmy.

A Tennessee Story

Here are two facts about FAYE DUNAWAY: (1) She and Tennessee Williams were friends. (2) When she decided to direct a short film, she chose his short story ''The Yellow Bird.'' (The film will be shown on Sunday on WE, the women's entertainment cable channel.)

''He gave me his recording of this short story, which was the most delightful, larky, kick-up-your heels story,'' she said. She shot the film in four days after persuading JAMES COBURN to star. ''I sent him a lot of orchids, that's what I did,'' she said.

Checking Out la Source

JEAN-MARIE LE PEN, the far-right candidate for the French presidency, attributes one of his homilies to MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG.

Mr. Le Pen said last week that he was ''socially on the left, economically on the right and nationally French.'' Agence France-Presse said the remark drew fire from many who believed it paraphrased Hitler. The news agency quoted Mr. Le Pen as saying: ''It wasn't from Hitler that I got my references, it's from Bloomberg, the Jewish mayor of New York.'' Mr. Le Pen said he noticed the line in an Air France in-flight magazine.

In fact, the most recent issue of the Air France magazine does feature a profile of Mr. Bloomberg, which says he once stated ''with total assurance that he was 'socially a Democrat, fiscally a Republican,' '' but the quote ends there. Mr. Bloomberg often says that he is socially liberal and fiscally conservative. He tends not to use party terms in that description.

''We're flattered his ideology has won international acclaim,'' said the mayor's spokesman, EDWARD SKYLER. Referring to Hitler, he added, ''I can promise you the mayor's remarks were not inspired by that despicable murderer.'' And Mr. Bloomberg's view of Mr. Le Pen? Mr. Skyler did not say.

Sometimes children can uncover as many facts as grown-up reporters do. Yesterday Mr. Bloomberg and his daughter, EMMA BLOOMBERG, 22, who also works at City Hall, were interviewed by a large group of children who were taking part in Take Your Child to Work Day. It was thus learned that he has no favorite color; that, like much of his audience, he enjoys peanut butter and hot dogs (no relish, thank you very much); that he still supports the idea of school uniforms; and that his favorite baseball team is whichever team is playing on the day he is asked. With Jennifer Steinhauer